Fast-growing green hydrogen technology start-up sHYp has moved into offices and laboratory space at the Hutton’s Aberdeen campus, with plans to expand to five staff on site. The move gives sHYp access to the institute’s specialist analytical equipment and expertise, helping it to develop what could be the first electrolyser able to produce hydrogen from sea water, without the need for desalination. sHYp says its technology, which splits seawater into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity, would also be able to extract by-products such as carbon dioxide and magnesium hydroxide, used in building and pharmaceuticals, adding valuable income streams and reducing the cost of green hydrogen. The technology could help any power users close to or at sea, such as ports and offshore vessels and facilities, to harness any surplus offshore renewable energy they produce by turning it into hydrogen. Professor Deborah Roberts, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Science at the Hutton, says, “We believe that having leading-edge companies like sHYP co-locate here will benefit us both and, ultimately, help to stimulate innovation for the benefit of Aberdeen and our wider society as a whole.” Jennie Morrison, director for sHYp BV in Scotland, says, “We’re really happy to be here at the institute where we will be able to work on and develop our technology and grow our team in-house. Laboratory space and access to specialist analytical and characterisation equipment can be challenging, but it will be invaluable to us as we develop our technology here in Scotland.” Green tech start-up takes tenancy at institute in Aberdeen Hutton’s entrepreneur in residence, George Lindsay At the beginning of this year, the James Hutton Institute appointed a new entrepreneur in residence – a man with more than 30 years of global business experience, George Lindsay. In this new role, he will be working with the scientists at the institute to commercialise their discoveries, taking them from concept to commerce. Over a long and varied career, Lindsay has gradually honed in on agricultural technology as one of his areas of interest, which made the position particularly relevant. Among other things, he’s currently working on projects helping to certify carbon credits for businesses and developing applications for gene sequencing. Lindsay worked with several growing Scottish firms and also got involved with the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute at Edinburgh University, where he was assigned a few young companies to help. “My background was in agricultural software and it just so happened that I met with Jonathan Snape, the managing director of the commercial arm of the institute. “After that, he called me to help on a couple of small projects looking at agritech trends, and before long it came to the point where he asked me to join them, as someone to help possible spin-outs. “I was given the opportunity to take these wonderful ideas from clever scientists, looking at them to see if they have any commercial legs, with the possibility of adding value to the institute, their founders and wider society.” In the work Lindsay has been doing so far, the big trends are sustainability and carbon management. “The agritech sector is almost totally focused on improving the way we farm, driven by consumer demand,” he explained, noting that the company he worked with in the US - Adopt-Ag - specialised in predictive analytics, helping to pick the best field to plant a given crop. “We were trying to create models to improve yield, sustainability and quality of the crop; the latter is becoming increasingly important, as demand increases around what people are eating and whether it’s good for them.” Lindsay adds: “Another big project I’m currently working on is a potential spin-out on RNA sequencing, taking DNA strands and cutting them up - to be honest, the first pitch is often somewhat incomprehensible, so I’m there to help the scientists put things in layman terms, polishing their first few presentation slides - explaining that what they’re really doing is ‘curing cancer’ or ‘finding a new way to feed the world’ - working out the key applications, rather than the technical details.” June 2023 13 George Lindsay, entrepreneur in residence
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